


All the World's a Stage

by lainathiel



Category: Destiny (Video Games)
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Enemies to Friends, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, F/M, Female Human Hunter, Friends to Lovers, Friendship/Love, Grief/Mourning, Guilt, Hurt/Comfort, Other, Trauma, anyway, crow and oc are teetering dangerously between being best friends and falling in love but shhhhh, do crow and uldren tags even merge, oc is a female hunter, past relationship with cayde heavily implied i suck at subtleties, why is there no proper crow tag
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-13
Updated: 2021-02-13
Packaged: 2021-03-13 10:41:39
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,359
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29400690
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lainathiel/pseuds/lainathiel
Summary: ''...And all the men and women merely players;They have their exits and their entrances;And one man in his time plays many parts''
Relationships: Cayde-6 & Female Guardian (Destiny), Cayde-6 & Guardian (Destiny), Cayde-6 (Destiny) & Original Character(s), Cayde-6 (Destiny)/Original Character(s), Cayde-6/Female Guardian (Destiny), Cayde-6/Guardian (Destiny), Female Guardian & Uldren Sov, Female Guardian/Uldren Sov, Guardian & Uldren Sov, Guardian/Uldren Sov, Uldren Sov/Original Character(s), Uldren Sov/Original Female Character(s)
Comments: 1
Kudos: 15





	All the World's a Stage

**Author's Note:**

> (enjoy this little blurb that suddenly came to mind)

The EDZ is beautiful.  
  
I can't explain it. There's something beneath all that death and destruction, something even the alien infestations cannot destroy. A monument. To all those that lived before. And a reminder.  
  
I've always loved the EDZ. Always took the patrols and bounties that made sure I'd have some time to myself to chill on the old radio tower and just watch the sunset. For a long time, watching those sunsets was the only thing that kept me centered, gave me purpose. A reminder.  
  
I wish I was that Guardian again.  
  
''You're awfully quiet today,'' Crow says, tearing me away from my thoughts for only a brief moment.  
  
''It's nothing,'' I say with a small smile.  
  
But it's everything. It's the fact that I'm back on the old radio tower, but the sunsets just don't look the same anymore. It's the fact that the only other person I ever brought here was Cayde. And it's the fact that the hand that killed him is now placed over mine in comfort.  
  
He doesn't say anything when he places his hand over mine. For a moment, we watch the sunset in silence. It's oddly quiet in the area today - no enemy activity on the radar at all - and with our ghosts away to scout the perimeter, the silence is even more palpable.  
  
You'd think it'd be soothing, but I feel suffocated by it. Because I know that he knows. On some level - he knows. And I hate that it makes his burden of guilt that much heavier. I wish I could be a better person, better Guardian. I wish I could help him better.  
  
For now, all we can do is run away and pretend.  
  
Except we can't truly run away. We can get out of the city, but not away from each other.   
  
''It's good to just breathe for a bit,'' he speaks again, ''Not have to wear the mask.''  
  
I smile at that. He has a beautiful face, truly. It's a shame he has to hide it. When he looks back at me there's so much warmth in his eyes that for a moment all the ice in my heart thaws away. He smiles back.  
  
I envy him for it. Being able not to wear a mask in front of me. I wish it were a mutual thing. But I have to hold back so much at all times - and it's all just to protect him.  
  
It's as though he reads my mind.  
  
''I wish I could tell you that you can tell me anything. As a friend, I do feel that. I want to say I'm here for you, if you need me,'' he says, with a new twinge of seriousness to his voice.  
  
''I know,'' I say.  
  
''But I'm not stupid,'' he says, almost interrupting me, ''I know that whatever bothers you so much has everything to do with me. And you cannot tell me because you want to protect me.''  
  
I don't say anything to that.  
  
''I hate that,'' he finally adds.  
  
''Crow, this isn't about you,'' I assure him, ''Trust me when I say that. It's about me.''  
  
''How can you say it's not about me when it's my fault that you feel the way you do?''  
  
''No, it's not,'' I insist, ''The mess in my head is my responsibility alone... You have nothing to do with that.''  
  
''I just hate it,'' he stands up, dusting his butt off, ''I know what I did must have been truly horrible - heck, the whole City hates me for it, it's why I wear that stupid mask - but with you it's personal,'' he says.   
  
The sun has finally set completely beyond the horizon. I stand up too, pulling the hood of my cloak over my head.  
  
''With you,'' he continues, and for a split-second his voice breaks, as though he chokes on his words, ''I know I took everything from you.''  
  
I take his hand. It's gloved this time, and the lack of warmth frustrates me. So I squeeze a bit harder. He cannot help but look me in the eyes.  
  
''Not you. It wasn't really you.''  
  
''That doesn't matter,'' he says, ''You see my face and it's the face of the man that hurt you.''  
  
It breaks him to say it. For a moment I think I see his eyes glisten with something, but he swallows it all down. And that angers me. His pain infuriates me. Haven't we all suffered enough? Me, him, Cayde, Petra - we've all paid our prices. To Riven, to Savathun. Have we not hurt enough? Have we not cried enough, killed enough? When do we get to breathe again?  
  
So I take his face in my hands. And this time I feel the warmth I need. He doesn't move away, he just looks at me. He doesn't dare say anything else, and I have no words of my own.  
  
So I throw my arms around his neck. Hug him as tightly as I can. For a moment, he's confused, almost unsure of what to do with his hands, but then he wraps his arms around my waist, and hugs me back.  
  
For a moment that might have lasted forever, we stay like that. I feel encased in a protective bubble, as though nothing could touch me here. His closeness and his arms around me make me feel safe, the smell of the leather of his armor makes me feel at home.   
  
Nothing else exists here. Not my pain, not his, not the ghost of Cayde hanging over us. He was never Uldren Sov, he was always my friend. I never lost the light. I was never hollowed out, never became a vengeful murderer. I never lost the ability to see the true beauty of an EDZ sunset.  
  
''I see your face and I see someone I would take a bullet for,'' I say into his shoulder, but I know he hears me, ''Who you were doesn't change that.''  
  
He pulls back a bit, just to look at my face. It's as though he wants to make sure that I truly believe what I've just said. He doesn't say anything though, even though it looks like he wants to.  
  
''And maybe one day, I'll be able to tell you everything. And it'll be okay for you to know,'' I add, ''Until then, we cannot let the burden of our past lives weigh us down. Wear us out.''  
  
A gust of wind nearly sways us on top of the rusted tower. A strand of my hair flails across my face, pulled out of my braid now that I don't have a helmet on. With all the love and affection he can muster, Crow brushes it back and behind my ear. Instinctively, I lean into his hand. I know I probably shouldn't.  
  
''I'll make you a promise,'' he says with a smile.  
  
''And what is that?'' I grin. He always comes up with silly ideas at the most random of times.  
  
''One day, I'll have replaced all that pain with something better,'' he says.  
  
I smile. I know he means it.   
  
And then it comes - that wave of guilt. Not his this time, but my own. I still haven't quite moved past it. And I have no idea when I'll be able to. But a part of me still feels like a traitor. Like I'm betraying Cayde. Maybe it will never go away. Maybe this is something I'll have to live with forever.  
  
Our ghosts save me from my thoughts.   
  
''The ship should be here in approximately two minutes,'' my ghost says, ''Are we ready to go?''  
  
''Ready as we'll ever be,'' Crow says, pulling his mask out of his back pocket. I put my helmet back on even though I don't really need it, and glove my hands.   
  
I take his hand again, as we wait for the transmat. I squeeze it as tight as I can, wanting to say everything I can't find the words for.  
  
Ready as we'll ever be, I think, right before my ship appears before us. Back to reality.  
  
We've got a lot of work to do.


End file.
